1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and more specifically to a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for transforming source input data from one data or object format to another data or object format using a configurable transformation macro.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, transforming data files from one format to another is commonplace in the context of data stored in an Extensible Markup Language (“XML”) format. This is in part because the XML data format has experienced widespread use. XML is quickly becoming the de facto standard for exchanging corporate data via structured documents, whether internally with business partners or via public applications across the Internet. With the proliferation of data stored in XML formats, the transformation of such data into formats that are recognized by diverse applications has also become widespread.
Currently, Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (“XSLT”) is an industrial standard for translating XML documents to other formats. XSLT is a translating language that uses programming type syntaxes, which are quite complex. Also, XSLT does not recursively read data to initiate a data transform or to trigger an action. Moreover, XSLT only reads XML documents. Further, XSLT developers are required to do a lot of coding to allow the reading of multiple XML documents and to create complex logic required for complex XML document transformation. Furthermore, XSLT developers are required to redo the entire cycle again whenever a new process or business logic is involved.